Keyhole illuminator



Nov. 7, 1950 D. H. SWANSON KEYHOLE ILLUMINATOR Filed March 29, 1947 N w y! E D .T N 4 5 q 740 w 2 2H 6 4 v 4 A 9 a x Wm 2 4 a MW 2 l1." H" 6 3 w a A L a 4 5km. IO 2 w-a Patented Nov. 7, 1950 'UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,529,234 KEYHOLE ILLUMINATOR Donald H. Swanson, Minneapolis, Minn.

Application March 29, 1947, Serial No. 738,058

My invention is related to improvements in a keyhole 'illuminator. In particulan'it is related to a self-contained illuminator of relatively simple construction which is adapted to be attached in any convenient location with relation to a door for illuminating the exterior surface of a latch plate and its associated :parts including a keyhole, to enable a person to easily find, the keyhole during the hours of darkness.

While devices having this general function have long been known in the prior art, they have not met with wide success because they were generally of complex and expensive construction and generally required electrical connection to the building circuit, so that the cost of these prior art illuminators was generally so high as to limit their commercial success.

In the present invention I have provided an .illuminator in the form of a flashlight structure containing the necessary dry-cell batteries, switching mechanism and incandescent bulb, arranged within a moisture-tightcasing which may be easily attached to a door or to other wooden structures adjacent the door. The case is provided with one or more separable portions to 1 facilitate changing the batteries orto make any necessary repairs in the switching mechanism. The switching mechanism includes a manual actuator in the form of a large plate mounted on the exterior of the casing and covering the major portion of the casing so that it may be easily located during the hours of darkness.

An object of my invention is to provide a selfcontaining illuminator adapted for mounting adjacent the latch plate of a door to illuminate the same during the hours of darkness to enable a person to easily find the keyhole.

Another object is to provide a keyhole illuminator consisting of a casing adapted to be mounted on a surface adjacent the latch plate of a door and containin the necessary elements of a flashlight structure.

Another object is to provide a keyhole illuminator in the form of a casing adapted to be at- 4 tached to a surface and containing the necessary elements of a flashlight, said casing being formed in separable portions to permit easy replacement of parts.

A further object 'is to'provide an illuminator of the class described in the form of a casing having a first portion containing one or more drycell batteries, a second portion containing a switching mechanism and anincandescent bulb, and a relatively large manual actuator positioned on the exterior of the casing which may be easily located and actuated during the hours of darkness.

Other and further objects may become apparent from the following description and claims and in the appended drawings in which:

3 Claims. (Cl. 240-213) Fig. l is a partial View of the present invention applied to the frame of a door;

Fig. 2 isv an enlargement taken on the lines 22 of Fig. 1; and,

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the lines 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Referring nowto the drawings, and particularly to Fig. 1,. reference numeral it indicates a portion of a door such as might exist at the entrance of a dwelling upon which a latch plate i2 is secured by fastening means 14. A doorknob !5 and a keyhole l8 of conventional design are shown in their normal relationship to the latch plate l2. A flashlight indicated by the general reference numeral is positioned on door H] in such a manner as to illuminate latch plate l2 so that a person seeking to unlock the door may conveniently locate keyhole I8 during the hours of darkness.

Referring now to Figs. 2 and 3, the flashlight indicated by general reference numeral 20 is shown in enlarged detail. A relatively flat plate 22 is formed with a pair of apertures 24 adjacent its opposite ends to receive conventional fastening means by which the plate is secured to door I. Formed integral With plate 22 but extending outwardly therefrom is'a hollow casing 26 which is open on its lower extremity and is provided with flanges 26a at its opposite sides. A lower separable casing 25 is also provided with lateral flanges 25a and is adapted to be joined to casing 26 by bolts 21a, and nuts 211) which extend through the flanges 25a and 26a. A gasket 26b is positioned between the flanges and serves to prevent the entry of moisture. Casing 2B is provided with a sloping upper surface 28. Casing 25 is provided with a sloping exterior surface 30. Casing 25 is hollow on its interior as indicated at 32 but is formed substantially water-tight. Extending laterally across the interior of casing 26 is a bracket 34 formed of insulating material which supports a U-shaped spring 36.

Situated within casing 25 is a plate 38 formed of insulating material which is supported within the casing by a pair of brackets 39. Extending through plate 38 are a pair of terminal screws and 42.

A pair of dry-cell batteries 54 having terminal portions 45 are situated in alternate position with'respect to each other in casing 2% with one end of each battery in contact with the opposite ends of spring 35. and'the alternate ends in contact with terminal screws 4i! and 62. As the batteries 34 are of conventional design having.

an outer casing formed of zinc, they form a series circuit with spring 36 and terminal screws 40 and 62. A pair of terminal brackets 41 and 48 are secured to terminal screws 66 and 42 by nuts 45.

A conventional flashlight bulb iii! is removably secured within a socket 52 that is in turn secured Within an aperture on the lower extremity of casing 25. On its rear end socket 52 supports a bracket or contact 54. A connector 56 extends from one side of socket 52 to terminal bracket 41.

As best seen in Fig. 2 a bracket 60 is supported between the lateral sides of casing 25. A plunger 58 having an enlarged head 62 is supported on its inner end within an aperture in bracket 60 with the enlarged head extending through a small aperture in casing 25. Adjacent the inner end of head 62 is a metal conductor G4that is pro vided to bridge terminal brackets 48 and 54. coil spring 66 is situated about plunger 58 with one end in contact with bracket 60 and the other end in contact with conductor 64.

Supported on the upper edge of casing 26 by a hinge 68 is a fiat plate which extends over the front of casings 25 and 26. Adjacent its lower extremity plate 10 contacts the head 62 of plunger 58. Plate H1 will normally be held in an outwardly slanting position by the resilience of spring 66, but when depressed by a person desiring to illuminate the flashlight bulb 50, plate 10 causes plunger 58 to move inwardly against the resilience of spring 86 until the conductor 64 bridges brackets 48 and 54.

In practice, the illuminator indicated by reference numeral 20 would be sold as a complete accessory and may be suitably attached to a door or to a casing surrounding a door by inserting to incandescent bulb 50 which may be traced as follows: from battery 44 shown in the left side of Fig. 3, through conductor 36 to the other battery 44, thence through terminal 45 to terminal screw 42, bracket 48, conductor 64, bracket 54, bulb 50, conductor 56, terminal screw 40 back to the other of batteries 44.

From time to time it would be necessary to replace the batteries or to clean or service the switching mechanism and to accomplish this, casing portion 25 may be removed from casing portion 26 by loosening nuts 21b with relation to bolts 21a whence the lower portion of the casing can be removed and batteries 44 will drop out of casing 26. To install the new batteries within casing .26 it is merely necessary to hold them in their'alternate position as shown, with two fingers, and replace casing 25 to its secured position.

The principal advantage of my invention is that a relatively inexpensive illuminator may be provided which does not require novel arrangements of the door or the latching mechanism and does not require connection to the building electric circuit.

As numerous changes could be made in the construction which is within the spirit of my invention, I do not wish to be restricted to the single illustration, but rather to the extent of the appended claims, 4

I claim:

1. A keyhole illuminator, comprising a two-pole battery, an electric lamp, a first conductor connecting one pole of the battery and the lamp, a first terminal extending from the other pole of the battery, a second terminal extending from the lamp, a second conductor adapted to electrically join said terminals, a casing surrounding said battery, conductors and terminals, said casing having an opening therein, a plate hingedly supported at one end of said casing with its other end extending over the opening in said casing, an actuator positioned in the opening of said casing with one end joined to said second conductor and the other end in contact with said plate, and a spring operatively connected to said actuator ior'biasing a portion of the plate away from the casingand holding the second conductor away from said terminals in such a manner that movement of theplate in the direction-of the casing engages said second conductor with said terminals.

2. A keyhole illuminator, comprising a hollow casing having a first opening at one end and a second opening on one side, an incandescent lamp supported in said first opening with its illuminable portion extending on the outside of the casing, a plate pivotally supported at one end by the casing at the end thereof opposite the, lamp, the other end of said plate extending beyond the limits of the second opening in said casing and in the direction of the first opening, a two pole battery within said casing, a first conductor continuously connecting one pole of the battery with the lamp, a second conductor extending from the other pole of the battery in the direction of the lamp, and resilient switching means supported within the casing, said switching means including a member protruding outwardly from the space between the adjacent ends of the battery and the lamp and through said second opening into abutting relationship with the inner surface of said plate to hold one end of the latter in spaced relation to the casing.

3. A keyhole illuminator, comprising a two pole battery, an incandescent lamp, a first electrical conductor extending between one pole of the battery and the base of the lamp, a second electrical conductor extending from the other pole of the battery in the direction of the lamp, a casing surrounding the battery and the first and second electrical conductors, said casing having an opening adjacent the second conductor, a plate hingedly joined at one end to the casing with its free end extending over said opening, and switching means carried within said casing for bridging the second conductor and the base of the lamp, said switching means comp-rising a contacting portion and a resiliently supported actuating por tion, said actuating portion extending outwardly through said opening and into abutting relationship with the free end of the plate to normally hold the plate in spaced relation to the casing when the contacting portion is in open circuit position with respect to the second conductor and the lamp.

DONALD H. SWANSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name 7 Date 1,665,132 Fisher Apr. 3, 1928 2,007,101 Vonderembse July 2, 1935, 2,011,692 Simpson Aug. 20, 1935 2,267,895 Boynton Dec. 30, 1941 23 0 Herder -1 Dec. 8, 1942 

